The Fashionable Rivalry of West Side Story

Last Week, “West Side Story” graced the stage at the Orpheum Theater while the first game of the World Series was being played — lucky for us, the score was announced in the beginning and intermission.

Nonetheless, the decades have treated this musical well and made it culturally relevant. More than that timeless American classic has maintained its classic — and modern — style.

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Cody Green as Riff and The Jets from the Broadway Company rock some classic American denim in “West Side Story.”

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

For some reason, the 1961 film has never been out of style. The garb that Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris donned in the movie can easily be translated to the streets today — and it teaches us that birds of a fashion feather, do indeed, flock together.

In the film and in the stage production set to the beat of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim score, the not-so-ethnic gang called the Jets don American workwear-meets-preppy cut from the cloth of classic Levi’s. Their rival gang of Puerto Rican immigrants, the Sharks, have a slim European silhouette with vibrant colors that emit an air of urban sophistication. Not many gang members can pull off tucking in their shirts while getting ready to rumble — but for the Sharks, it works out.

Even the females on the opposing sides of this modern-day “Romeo and Juliet” story have conflicting looks. The ladies of the Jets wear short, stretch jersey skirts and shine in a vampy Galliano-esque pin-up girl spotlight. On the other side, the females from the Sharks have a little bit of spice and color with danceable full, ruffly skirts that can be easily likened to Stefano Pilati‘s flamenco-inspired frocks from the Yves Saint Laurent S/S 2011 collection.

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Karen Olivo as Anita and The Shark Girls from the Broadway Company give some flamenco fashioned sass.

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

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A flamenco look from YSL Spring/Summer 2011.

The dueling tribes not only disagree on race issues, turf ownership and interracial romance, but the also have a distinct perspective on fashion — which can probably be best showcased in the series of khaki vs. denim “West Side Story”-inspired ads the Gap created in 2000:

Please excuse the poor quality of the video (you can check out some behind the scenes of this campaign here). It’s the only video we could find. Perhaps the Gap should consider making these classic ads available to the general public — they are quite fun to watch! As an added bonus, the dancers actually perform Jerome Robbins’s original choreography! How fun is that?

“West Side Story” continues through Nov. 28 at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets are $30-$99. Call 888-746-1799 or visit www.shnsf.com for information.